Referral process

Referrals to St Barnabas House are accepted from either your GP, Hospital Consultant or Specialist Nurse with the agreement of the GP. The hospice team will be working very closely with your GP, who holds overall responsibility for your care whilst at home, so it is important that they are aware of our involvement.

Reasons for referral to the service include those listed on the referral form - please click below for our downloadable referral form.

When we receive a referral, either a nurse specialist from our community team or doctor will contact you to arrange a suitable date to meet with you, either at your own home or at the hospice outpatient clinic.

We aim to have seen urgent referrals within 2 working days of receipt of referral and within 10 days for non-urgent referrals.

The nurse or doctor at that first meeting is likely to spend up to an hour with you, finding out how you are feeling and what impact your illness has had on your day to day life, in order to identify how we might be able to help you and your family. Suggestions can then be made to help with any difficulties or issues that have arisen, and an action plan will be agreed between you and the nurse or doctor before the end of the visit. The action plan (in the form of a letter) will be sent to your GP, and you will be offered a copy of this.

(Referrals purely for psychological support may be dealt with by the Family Services Team. A member of the team may therefore accompany the nurse specialist on the first assessment when this need is specifically identified).


July 2009